Page 36 of Chains
A collective gasp rose from the crowd.I felt my mouth drop open, stunned by Caleb’s audacity.Surely even Tonio Miles wouldn’t…
Without hesitation, Tonio pulled a black credit card from his wallet and held it out to the volunteer.“Run it,” he said, his voice calm but his eyes locked with Caleb’s in silent challenge.
The volunteer glanced at me, uncertain.I shrugged, then nodded, a little too shocked to speak.
“Worth every penny,” he said as the volunteer handed him the receipt to sign.
Caleb’s smirk never wavered, even as Tonio strode around to the side of the tank, grasped the lever, and pushed it with decisive force.The platform dropped, plunging Caleb into the water with a satisfying splash.The crowd erupted in cheers and applause.
When Caleb surfaced, pushing his wet hair from his eyes, he was grinning.“Pleasure doing business with you, Mr.Miles,” he called out, climbing back onto his platform.
Tonio nodded, a hint of respect in his eyes.“The pleasure was mine,” he replied before turning to address the crowd.“I’m happy to support such a worthy cause.My family believes in giving back to the community.”
As he walked away, I caught his slight smile, suggesting he was well aware of how this public display of generosity would play with the onlookers.The businessman-slash-philanthropist image was intact, even as he’d indulged his desire to dunk the kid who’d gotten under his skin.
I watched the interaction with growing amazement.In less than ten minutes, Caleb had just secured more money for our toy drive than I’d hoped to raise all day.Halloween magic indeed.
The ripples from Tonio’s dramatic donation spread through the park faster than Caleb could dry himself off.People clustered in small groups, whispering and pointing toward the dunk tank where the soaked twelve-year-old had already reclaimed his perch, grinning like a shark that had just discovered an all-you-can-eat buffet.I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him, his light brown hair plastered to his forehead, his clothes dripping, but his spirit clearly soaring.
“Ten thousand dollars,” Hannah whispered beside me, still stunned.“For a dunk tank?That’s more than most people’s monthly salary.”
“That kid is going places,” I replied, shaking my head in admiration.“Probably Supreme Commander of the New World Order or something.”
Knuckles joined our small group.“What’s this I hear about Tonio Miles dropping ten grand to dunk a twelve-year-old?”
“Caleb,” Chains said without further explanation.
“Ah.”Knuckles grinned.
“You missed quite the show,” I told him, leaning against Chains’ solid warmth.“Caleb played him like a fiddle.”
“Caleb plays everyone like a fuckin’ fiddle.”Knuckles shook his head with a chuckle.“But I’m willing to bet that little show was a tag team effort.”
“Why do you say that?”Hannah slipped her arm through Knuckles’, giving him a curious expression.
“You notice any other big shots around town hanging out down there?”We all looked at the dunking booth as Knuckles indicated where Caleb continued to taunt people nearby.He also called up a little girl of about six and let her push the lever for free.She shook her head and, instead, climbed up on the platform with Caleb.Then the two proceeded to heckle the crowd together.Granted, Caleb toned it down significantly and made it more fun instead of cutting.The kid really was in line for biker of the year.Except he wasn’t a biker.And yeah.I was laughing as much on the outside as I was on the inside because I noticed what Chains did at about the same time.
“Is that…” Chains squinted and studied the girl.
“Yep.”Knuckles put his arm around his wife’s shoulders as he gave a long-suffering sigh.“It’s the mayor’s daughter.”
“Christ, we’re all gonna get arrested.”Chains scrubbed a hand over his face.“Do we have enough bail money?”
A sleek black Mercedes pulled up to the curb near the park entrance.The crowd parted as a woman in a designer pantsuit strode purposefully toward the dunk tank, her heels clicking against the pavement, her platinum blonde hair pulled back in a severe bun.I recognized her as the CEO of the largest real estate development company in the region.
“Fresh meat,” Chains murmured, his eyes sparkling with amusement.“This should be good.”
Caleb spotted her immediately, straightening on his perch with renewed interest.He said something to the girl.She turned and gave him a tight hug.Caleb hugged her back before helping her down from the perch where they’d been sitting.No one had managed to dunk them, but I’d noticed Caleb at the ready.Likely to hold her up as high as he could if someone managed to dunk him.I also noticed that there were only a couple people he seemed concerned with.The rest… I swear, the kid could read the shit out of people and knew how to get under their skin so deep they couldn’t keep cool enough to get their revenge by dunking the little punk.
Once the girl was safely on the ground, Caleb started the real show.“Well, look who’s here!”he called out.“The woman who builds luxury condos where affordable housing used to be!How many families did you displace this week?Do you make them clean your stilettos before you kick them out?”
A collective “OH!”swept through the crowd as they laughed and cheered.Not a really nice barb, but Caleb was a special kind of kid.The CEO in question had been accused of exactly what he’d suggested.She’d been trying to repair her image, but so far the inner-city locals were having none of it.She halted, narrowing her eyes at Caleb before approaching the volunteer handling the money.I couldn’t hear what she said, but moments later, the volunteer was holding a check, his eyes wide.
“Five thousand dollars!”he announced to the crowd.
“Looks like someone’s trying to buy a clean conscience!”Caleb shouted.“Too bad it doesn’t match your shoes.Those are last season, right?I saw them in the clearance bin at the outlet mall!”
The CEO took her three balls with a tight smile.Her first throw came surprisingly close to the target, causing Caleb to straighten in alarm.“Oh!She’s got an arm on her!”he called out.“Probably from all that practice throwing employees under the bus!”Her second throw missed wide, and Caleb’s laughter rang out.“Choked under pressure!Just like your company’s stock last quarter!”The CEO’s third throw hit the very edge of the target but didn’t trigger the mechanism.Frustrated, she handed over another check.“Make it ten thousand,” she said loudly enough for everyone to hear.“If I hit it with any of these next three balls.”
